


a good book opens the door to new light

by unicyclehippo



Series: Blue Girls Have The Most Fun [40]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, guess who got a new book, guess who shares a room with a very pretty girl, jester learns romance from her books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25643266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unicyclehippo/pseuds/unicyclehippo
Summary: prompt: Jester (accidentally) buys a lesbian romance novel and starts having Feelings?
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Series: Blue Girls Have The Most Fun [40]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824289
Comments: 1
Kudos: 140





	a good book opens the door to new light

It doesn’t look like much. The book is small, neat, bound in simple brown leather. The title is embossed on its spine in block silver: _Kingdom Come_. What it had _looked_ like at the time - the time being a quick dash through the bookstore before hurrying on - was exactly the kind of pun Jester appreciates from her romance books and so she had swept it up along with a few other, more obviously raunchy, tomes complete with their painted covers— _The Beekeeper's Honey, Tristan's Tryst, The Seafoam Bride._

'Find anything good?' Beau asks, looking up from her boring pile of books. History, religion, trees and stuff and—

'Be-au,' Jester laughs, eyes glittering as bright as her jewellery, which drip like frozen raindrops from her horns. Light pours in through the teeny shuttered windows of the teeny shuttered store, catching on the silver. 'Is that a porn book?'

Beau flushes. 'No.'

'It's okay if it is.'

'It's not.'

' _Beau_ ,'

'It's not. It's just—here, it's physiology. I'm having trouble with this stupid thing Dairon is tryna teach me and...' Beau glares down at the book - a medical tome, Jester can see from the title and from the unsexy images - like it's the books' fault she's having trouble. 'Anyway. I'm good here if you wanna head out.'

'Sure!' Ignoring Beau's protests, she scoops up both of their piles into her arms and takes them to the counter, pays for them all. The sweet, almost shy smile she gets for the gesture makes it very, very worth it. 

'Jes - you didn't have to do that. I can pay.'

'So can I.'

'Yeah, but,'

' _Most_ people just say thank you,' Jester tells her in a stage whisper, and the smile tugging at her lips grows, blooms in a full beaming smile when Beau blows out an exasperated breath and thanks her. Muted. Fond. 'You're welcome! Now come on! I want pastries!'

'Whoa, really? What a surprise!'

Jester raises her brows, tsks. 'If you're mean to me, I won't share.'

A strange expression crosses Beau's face. Brilliant blue eyes shift too fast to follow over Jester's face. 'I better be nice, then,' Beau murmurs.

Beau's voice is always a little rough but the sweetness, the softness, of her words coats it until the rough is little more than a faint rasp; Jester shivers. She laughs reflexively, happy to be home and with her friend, and Beau's hand is warm in hers when Jester pulls her along to the bakery. 

* * *

It features a princess. The book, that is. It features a princess who is rather sick of the whole thing. She strikes out on her own, cuts her hair short, wears her brother’s clothes and takes off on a grand adventure; she's brave, even when she's scared, and funny. Jester pours herself into the book—sat in her new favourite place, the very comfortable chaise Yasha had helped her carry up into the bedroom she shares with Beau—her nose barely an inch from the pages as she devours it, transported into the world where her newest friend Princess Rhiannon—Heath, in her disguise—finds danger and delight, and a small knot of friends. At first, Jester is sure that the tall and striking, mysterious swordsman Marc has Rhiannon’s attention. He’s terribly dashing and suave and does all the right things, sweeping in at the last moment to save her life, defending her, being honourable and kind. And then— _then_ —

Jester shuts the book firmly, sets it aside as she sits bolt upright. There’s a strange feeling in her face, buzzing and numb all at once, like warming up after a night in the cold, heat returning to cold cheeks; she bites at her lip to feel the sensation of it. It’s somewhat dulled but when she presses down harder, the sharpness comes rushing in—along with a voice that had been droning on in the background.

‘—going to head to the library. More books, it’s always more books with him. Not that you have to come because don’t even worry about the books going dickless, I’ll draw some in there for you— Hey, you alright?’

Jester looks up, eyes wide. Beau is standing in front of her, half-way through pulling on her coat. Beau isn't shifting, is stuck in place with journal in hand and that intensity in narrowed eyes, that look she gives everything that catches her attention, catches her interest. Jester's heart slams awkwardly into her ribs. She stammers for a moment, words made ungainly with shock and…guilt?

‘Huh? Yeah, yes, I’m fine! How are you?’

Beau’s faint suspicion melts into amusement. ‘Just fine,’ she drawls. ‘Did you hear _anything_ I said?’

‘Um—of course! You said... Um.' Jester stares back at Beau, whose smile keeps growing. Jester smiles back. 'No.'

‘Didn’t think so.' Beau shrugs into her coat, drops the journal into the bag on her bed. 'I _said_ we’re headed to the library. Me, Caleb. _Caduceus_ of all people. Just letting you know,’ she says, and picks up the satchel she had been packing with her notebook and quills, slings it over her shoulder. ‘See you tonight.’

‘Yeah. See you,’ Jester agrees.

Beau shoots her an odd little look but steps out. The moment she does, Jester collects the book from where she had put it and opens cautiously to the page she had left off—

_Rhiannon sinks down by the campfire, rubs a hand over her face. It has been a long day and she wishes only to sleep. But her companions need rest too, and that nobility she denies is as much a part of her as her breath, and so it is she who takes the watch, prepared to protect. The night had not darkened much when she feels Lyra sit beside her. The night is dark and heavy and the fire and her friend are warm; they do not speak of it at this moment, but when Rhiannon turns toward her, Lyra is there and waiting, smiling. And when Rhiannon leans in, Lyra comes to meet her—she is right at her side, right beside her as always. Kissing her feels right in a way that very little has felt right; it feels right in the same way running had felt right, and taking up her sword had felt right, and more. Always more. More, and brighter, and better. Her whole life, since Lyra._

Jester closes the book again, slams it firmly shut with a hand on the front cover and back, pressing. The words were the same. She hadn’t imagined it. They’d kissed. They kiss again on the next page, Jester had seen it by accident when her eyes skipped away from the first one. They _kissed,_ she thinks again, and she's surprised again by the sudden warmth that fills her, heats her cheeks, flutters in her belly. 

‘What?’ she says aloud. The word sounds surprisingly loud in the still, quiet room. 'What. The fuck?'

It isn't that she doesn't understand. Her mama had female companions, Yasha had a wife, Beau had been with women, and Jester knew about all of that, had heard it - but it was different. With this, it was different. Jester strokes her hand over the smooth leather of the cover. It had been so easy to imagine herself as Guinevere falling in love with Oscar, Isme falling for Trentan, Juliette falling for Remus. It had always been so easy to imagine herself in their places, going on adventures and solving mysteries and falling in love and it had been no harder with Rhiannon. And then Lyra... Jester feels her heart flutter again, warmth rushing into her cheeks. It's no harder, she realises. She can imagine this just as easily. More than that, it feels familiar. _Easy_. 

Jester leans back into her chair. Pulls her legs up onto the cushions beside her and, running her fingers over the cover of the book, she opens it back to the page where she had jumped off. 


End file.
